Coated glass fabric



July 15,- 1941. r c. s. HYATT ETAL 2,249,528

COATED GL-Ass FABRIC Original Filed April 8, 193a INVENTORS Patented July 15, 1941 COATED GLASS FABRIC Charles S. Hyatt and John C.'Lowman, Columbus, Ohio, assi'gnors to Columbus Coatedlabrics Corporation, Columbus, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Original application April s, 1938, Serial No.

Dividedand this application March 31, 1939, Serial No. 265,261

(Cl. 91-68) e 2 Claims.-

This invention relates to a composite plastic sheet product such as linoleum, shade cloth, decorative material, wall and floor coverings, and the like.. These compositions are generally formed of coated fabric construction.

In particular this invention relates to coated glass woven fabrics and the method of making an improved product comprising woven felted or matted glass fibers interlocked and bonded together with suitable plastic coating compositions. It is an object of this invention to produce highly flexible artificial fabrics comprising as a base interlaced glass fibers or e uivalent prefused inorganic materials in the form of fibers interlocked together with a plastic coating composition, to provide a tough, flexible coated fabric material.

Another object. of this invention is the production of a patterned decorative material in the form of sheets. slabs or other articles of any desired shape. The particular desi n or decorative surface is formed by coating a glass fabric base initially with a transparent or colored plastic composition and baking the coated fabr c at approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit until a tackfree. tough, flexible product is obtained. Other coating compositions may be .applied thereover if desired or they may be omitted.

Another object of this invention is to produce a coated artificial fabric material formed from glass or mineral fibers of non-cellulosic base which is highly resistant to the action of acid or alkali, and at the same time being readily flexed, bent and capable of being embossed or printed upon, if desired.

It is a further object of this invention to proville an economical coated fabric material comprising a glass fabr c base having the openings between the fibers filled with synthetic resinous or cellulose coatin compositions in a manner to produce a highly flexible coated fabric material.

. locking, anchoring coat of such plasticity and flexibility as to insure interlocking with the glass fabric despite the fact that there is noimpregnation of the fibers of the fabric. After this interlocking coat has been provided, then the supplementary coats can be applied to the surface of the exposed portions of the interlocking coat so that they will be firmly anchored to the composite product.

This last advantage enables the production of a solid color coat which may be of the same color as the glass to give'a uniform appearance of the back of the oilcloth or other fabric while the front may have a variety of difierent colored coats or designs. It will be understood that oilcloth or similar materials have a uniform color, in some instances, upon the back and various designs imprinted upon the front. By. coloring the glass and using the interlocking coat of the same color, the back of the composite product will be of a uniform color which is highly desirable in the trade.

Another object of this invention is to increase the production rate of fabrics of this character that are coated. This increase in production rate and resultant lowering of the cost of manufacture is made possible by the use of higher temperatures in drying the coatings. The temperatures can be carried above that which is safe for 'use with textile materials. When glass fabrics Figure 4 is a plan view of a coated fabric having a particular design formed thereon; and

Figure 5 isa cross sectional view of a modified fabric coating material having a plurality of plastic coatings applied thereto.

In detail, Figures 1 and 2 show interlaced glass fibers l and 2 woven in the form of a fabric. The

threads or strands I and Z- are disposed lengthwise and vertical in a manner to interweave and interlock each other as illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 3 illustrates a glass fabric structure having applied thereto a plastic adhesive coating composition which securely bonds'the interlaced fibers together. This initial plastic coating functions not only to mechanically bind the glass fibers together, but provides a foundation or base upon which other plastic coatings may be adhesively united thereto by application and drying. The plastic coating compositions applied to the base coat may .be transparentor of any desired color or surface design. In the illustration shown the initial plastic coating 3 is thin,

that is low enough in viscosity so that it will filled with transparent coating or differently colored plastic composition so as to-give the fabric a decorative effect. The decorative coating may comprise the application of one or more coatings upon the anchor base coating.

In Figure 5 the coated fabric is provided with a plurality of coatings 6 and lon one side while the opposite side comprises only the initial plastic coating, as indicated at 6.

In accordance with this invention woven glass fabric of the desired weight and of loosely or closely woven structure is first coated with an adhesive coating composition in a suitable manner, such as by dipping, spraying, flow coating, knife coating, roller coating, and the like. The coated fabric material is then force air dried or heated at temperatures sufficient to drive off the volatile ingredients'to produce a. resultant tackfree, flexible, tough product. The baking time varies from one half hour to two and one half hours, depending upon the particular coating composition used.

The following are typical examples of coating compositions employed for compounding the coated glass fabric of this invention:

Example 1 Pounds Phenol formaldehyde resin 100 China-wood oil 312 Bodied linseed oil 160 Mineral spirit: 200 Titanium dioxi 300 Example 2 Pounds Alkyd resin 100 Urea formaldehyde resin 30 Titanium dioxide 60 Zinc oxide 20 xylol 40 Butanol 10 Example 3 Pounds Nitrocellulose 100 Blown castor oil 120 Butyl acetyl ricinoleate 30 Butyl acetate. 45 Butyl alcohol 30 Toluol 75 Example 4 Pounds Ethyl cellulose 100 Tricresyl phosphate Alkyd resin Toluol 60 Ethanol In the above examples the phenol formaldehyde synthetic resin employed may be of the draight phenol formaldehyde type or of the modified phenolic variations, such as'Amberol. These synthetic resins are of the oil soluble type.

The phenol formaldehyde resin which may be 76 employed in compounding the above coating composition may be produced as follows: 108 parts of cresol is mixed together with approximately 70 parts of formaldehyde (35 per cent formaldehyde solution) and the mixture heated to evaporate the water and the uncombined cresol. The reacted mixture is then incorporated with approximately 800 parts of melted colophony and the mass heated in an autoclave until a clear homogeneous resinous product is produced free from the odor of phenol. ,The volatile substances are then removed by heating and stirring,

then added while stirring. This produces a varnish mixture. About two-thirds of the varnish thus produced should be used as the grinding medium for the pigment and the other one-third added after the grinding. The resultant coating composition exhibits a high degree of flexibility and toughness on application and baking. In preparing the coating. composition, of course.

. other suitable phenol formaldehyde resins of the oil soluble type, which are well known in the art, may be substituted in place of the Amberol resin.

In preparing the coating composition of Example 2 disclosed in the above formula, the urea formaldehyde resin may be mixed with the alkyd resin and other ingredients forming the pigmented resinous coating composition. The alkyd resin may be prepared by heating parts of phthaiic anhydride with approximately 65 parts of glycerol and 150 partsof castor oil at approximately 200 degrees centigrade for about fortyiive minutes. The resultant product is a yellowish, tough, flexible resin. The urea formaldehyde resins are made by condensing urea.- with formaldehyde, and are well known in the art.

' In Example 3 the nitrocellulose ingredient is of the commercial variety. The particular viscosity of nitrocellulose selected for use may comprise a wide range of varieties depending upon the type of product desired. Nitrocellulose having around 30 seconds viscosity has shown exceptionally good durability and excellent iilm strength in compositions of this nature. It is dissolved in the solvent mixture comprising butyl acetate, alcohol and toluol, and the other ingradients incorporated therein. Butyl acetyl ricinoleate is added as a plasticizing agent.

The coating films formed from Example 3 exhibit a ,very high degree of flexibility and toughness and will retain this flexibility at 10w temperatures, for instance, as low as -30 degrees centigrade. The plasticizer employed in ample 3 produces a coating having a very soft The coating composition of Example 4 comprises ethyl cellulose modified by the addition of alkyd resin. The alkyd resin in this formula may be the same as employed in the coating composition of Example 2 disclosed above. but it is preferably of the vegetable oil modified alkyd type, which is more readily-compatible with ethyl cellulose. The use of unmodified and low oil together.

content alkyd resins is not recommended, however, since ethyl cellulose is not as readily com-, patible with these as the oil modified alkyds.

This type of alkyd resin is readily soluble in acetone and is easily incorporated with ethyl cellulose or nitrocellulose in any proportions to form a flexible coating composition. The ethyl cellulose employed may be of the commercial variety. The commercial product is obtainable with an ethoxy content of from 40 to 50 per cent. A grade which contains about 2.4 to 2.5 ethoxy groups per glucose residue is readily compatible with the solvents employed in compounding coating compositions of the nature described.

The initial coating. composition applied should be thin enough to allow slight penetration be-' tween the openings of, the threads of fibers so that after it has solidified it will form a strong mechanical bond holding the glass fibers securely The baking temperatures for the particular coating compositions vary, depending upon the particular type of composition. It should, however, generally be just below the point at which the pigment loses color or the binding material becomes yellow due to excess heat. The synthetic resinous compositions should ordinarily be dried at about 180 degrees to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Nitrocellulose lacquer coatings are baked at a temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

The coating composition should contain a minimum amount of volatile thinners, as the shrinkage of the film during evaporation, when considerable amounts of thinners are employed, tends to weaken the bond. Further it will generally be advantageous to heat the coating composition before applying. This will decrease the amount of thinner necessary to secure the proper fluidity of the coating and also speed up the drying time.

The use of alkyd resin in conjunction with ethyl cellulose in Example 4 greatly improves the durability of the coating. Further the alkyd resin protects the cellulose from the effects of ultraviolet rays which is important when durable transparent films are desired. The high degree of flexibility of this ethyl cellulose alkyd resin modified coating composition makes it ideal for coating fabric of this nature. The coating exhibits also an unusual resistance to alkalis and viously roughened. This may be done by sub-,

by the coating is more securely anchored to the surface'of the glass fibers.

The nitrocellulose coating, as well as the synthetlc resin coating compositions above mentioned, adheres to the glass fibers readily and may be superimposed upon each other to form built up coatings of any desired color or design.

' Further when a high degree of flexibility of the coating is desired at all times the composition of .Example 3 has been found to .be most desirable. For producing different colored coatings of any suitable design, it will only be necessary to incorporate the desired pigment into the substantially colorless resinous cellulose compositions as illustrated above.

The new coatedfabric of this invention has a variety of .uses, such as for making linoleums, wall coverings, auto top material, window shades, upholstery, interior coverings, drapes and, any other similar analogous uses wherein coated fabrics are employed. a v

This application is a division of our applica-' tion Serial No. 200,958, filed April 8, 1938.

It is understood, of course, that our improved coated fabric composition is not to be limited to the exact formulations and details of compounding the coated fabric product, since obvious modifications within the scope of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art- Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is':

1. A new article ofmanufacture comprising a glass fibrous web having interstices between the glass fibers filled with a flexible plastic cellulose coating film which mechanically interlocks said fibers together forming a reinforced coated fibrous glass web of material, said coating film comprising nitrocellulose, blown castor oil and butyl acetyl ricinoleate. and wherein the nitrocellulose constituent comprises approximately 40% by weight-and the blown castor oil about 48% by weight. of the coating film composition.

2. A new article of manufacture comprising a woven sheet of pre-fused roughened mineral fibers mechanically interlocked together with a flexible coating film of approximately the following composltion: 40% nitrocellulose 48% blown castor oil, and 12% butyl acetyl ricinoleate.

CHARLES S. HYAT'I'. JOmi C. 'LOWMAN. 

